The difference quotient is defined by
 |
It gives the slope of the secant line passing through 
and 
.
In the limit 
,
the difference quotient becomes the partial derivative
 |
Difference Quotient
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Cite this as:
Weisstein, Eric W. "Difference Quotient." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/DifferenceQuotient.html